Pretty straightforward Monday puzzle, with a theme that I didn't pick up until I got to the reveal. I still don't think cluing PDFS as "image files" is really the best way to go, but whatever. Everything else was smooth.

A wonderful breezy fun-filled Monday CW!! My fave: I can do 'em w/o a cheat!! Seriously, I suspect everyone at this site is carved higher than me on the totem pole of CW capability; hey, I do my best!! Love Mondays and Tuesdays. Wednesday is O.K. Thursday, I'm already on thin ice. Friday, I've fallen through the ice. Saturday, forget it, I'm done-for. Used to be able to do 'em all. Oi. Anyway, really enjoyed today's romp, and Argyles wonderful write-up. Thanx, Mark and Argyle!! And as always enjoyed Owen's limericks. Wishing everyone a great week!

Zipped through this one with nary a hiccup. Thanks, Mark. Argyle, I really enjoyed that model railroad video. I wonder how much real estate that model setup requires.

Another segment of the Grand Parkway opened this past week. We took the opportunity to drive the I-69 - I-45 segment over the weekend; the tolls kick in today. Can't imagine I'll ever have reason to drive that route again.

A nice start to the week from Mark....too bad I did not pay a little more attention to my effort. Did not realize until I logged in to the corner that I had -ATEW-ITHDESTINY for 32A, so instead of thinking I finished it off, I end up with a DNF. Nice start to the week!

Other then the omissions, this was a smooth fill.

18A BELL CAPTAIN left me wondering.....do they still exist?

A lot on my plate today which is going to be messed up thanks to an all day snow event. Apparently the highways are already full of accidents. I sure do not miss the AM drives to work and then PM drives home. I'd be a raving lunatic with today's congestion.

Pretty smooth morning, but I could not get past IN AN as a lead in to uproar. Funny how sometimes not being on a certain wavelength makes something so easy seem so difficult. Thanks, Mark.

Thanks for the tour, Argyle. I, too, like the train. The Chicago Botanic Garden has a wonderful G-gauge set up--indoors during the winter holiday season and outdoors--appropriately for G-arten gauge--in the summer. The setting is natural Chicago area landmarks built with twigs and so on. Kids of all ages love it.

Easy peasy Monday.I never think of E as a grade. My only write over was A FOR effort instead of E.We hiked on the lovely Isle of Skye for a week.Just this past week we were saying that very few places serve MALTS these days.Have you been to Roadside America in Shartlesville, PA? They have a huge model railroad and village layout.Link Roadside America Example of use of AVIATE:"Anyone who has learned to fly has heard that you must “aviate, navigate, then communicate” for the very reasons you mention, among others. Scientific American Jul 13, 2013

Desper-Otto, it looks like that Grand Parkway will be a big time saver, especially for those in the northeast trying to get back to the west . Also looks like there other new highways and parkways since I've been there.

Thanks for a great write-up and for appreciative words . . . I totally agree that PDFS is not a good answer for the published clue (my original was the very innocent "Sharable files"). Can't help but wonder if Rich was trying to trip solvers up if they got the "F" and immediately wrote in GIFS (I would have).

And that "E" for effort thing is an old gag, I guess, as everyone knows an "E" isn't a grade, so getting an "E" for effort is a bit of a dig meaning you tried but that's about all. Maybe we need to let that one fade away . . .

This was a fun, breezy offering, just right to start the week off nicely. Big CSO to Santa and DO and Anonymous T for Stro. Didn't see the theme until the reveal and, then, it's "how did I not see it?"

Here it is April 4th and I'm looking out at snow falling! If ever there was a wacky winter, this was it: 70's in March and teens in April! I wonder what Mother Nature has up her sleeve for the summer months?

I agree with Mark on the giFS file. That's what I did at first. Could have been JPEG, or TIFF or a myriad other file types. It took perps to fill it in.

I haven't been doing the puzzles for the last week. Went into the ER with a heart block (electrical) problem and spent the week having two surgeries. The first to install a Pacemaker and the second surgery to replace a defective lead into the heart. Most people have to wait 10 years to have the second surgery to replace the battery. I was not thrilled to be in the 5% group where things can go wrong. DW said I was a little too hard on the surgeon after the first surgery, but I disagree. It wasn't his fault that the lead didn't work. He fixed the problem and now the pump is acting properly. I'm still sore, but it will get better. I had great care from all of the hospital staff.

I'm glad to be back doing the puzzles and I think I got a couple of the nurses to do the LA Times CW and to log into the blog.

Musings-We ring a “DINNER BELL” when we feed our kitty. Now when we need to find her…-Where we stay, we are our own BELL CAPTAIN-Best wedding where I was a guest – We ate right after the ceremony and the couple TABLE HOPPED-My popup ADS dovetail with my recent web searches. That is uncomfortable.-Grandma had one of these with a PLUG on a chain-Dipstick – I’ve had two cars where I had to fill up the oil and only checked the gas-It took diminutive Peter Lorre to make this 5’ 9”, 150 lb PI look threatening-I’ll bet Johnny Carson’s heart SANK when a guest turned out to be TERSE -At my grandson’s baseball games his father takes dozens of pictures of each single play with his $1,200 Canon DSLR and immediately picks the one(s) he wants. Not how it used to be!-Who’s the last person to sit in your LAP Argyle?-Our foundation SHURBS are yews from which no one will ever make a bow-SALMON fish ladder built to help them around a Columbia River Dam-Kineseo TAPE is seen more and more often on athletes-A four-way STOP a hundred yards from here is backed up with at least 40 cars to the east on school days but our police dept. will not have someone direct traffic for a half-hour-Me too TTP!

Oc4, good to hear that your pacemaker adventure seems to have had a good outcome. Sounds like you weren't particularly hard on that doctor. Did you mean to say that your wife thought you were too easy on that doc? It's gotta feel good to be out of the hospital.

DO @ 10:17 am: No, she thought I went overboard on the discussion about the second surgery. I didn't yell or scream or shout, I just stated I was not going anywhere until the problem was fixed and fixed right. I know it wasn't his fault, but I wasn't happy with the necessary do-over. You know how engineers are.

I'm glad to be out of the hospital, but I have a lot of restrictions for the next 4 weeks or so to make sure that it heals properly and that the leads are set in the heart wall.

Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing [GLIDE, don’t AVIATE…!]Onward! the sailors cry [Not A-STERN, CAPTAIN AHAB, PLEASe!]Carry the lad that's born to be King [Disguised as DARLA but no TIARA]Over the sea to Skye [GLIDE, STOP, then AVIATE….!]

Thanks Mark and Argyle. I enjoyed that though the theme eluded me until after I stared at the completed puzzle for a couple of minutes. WEES.

Oc4beach: Good luck with all that crap you're going through. It's good you have the crossword puzzles and this blog to keep your mind occupied. Best wishes!

I came across an old movie that I've seen a couple of times before; The Firm, adapted from a John Grisham best seller. It's a fun, dramatic story that keeps you involved all the way along. It also has two of the best-looking actresses that never quite made it big on the silver screen; Jeanne Tripplehorn and Karina Lombard. It mostly avoids the usual weak ending of many Grisham novels/movies.

Zipped right along for an easy solve. Had to double back to get DARLA. No strikethroughs or lookups were needed. The unifier coughed up the catchy theme.SKYE - One of about 10 or so Hebrides island with 4 letters. We see Iona a lot.63a - Word play on rank of Rear Admiral. Originated in sailing days from assigning the more junior flag rank officer to command the ships held in reserve in the rear of the formation during a sea action.

Hello Everyone, No Constructor's name today. This is very unusual for our paper.Thanks Argyle for an eye opening write up. I made some of the same errors as others--prose for prosy, and A for Effort. A is a grade and E is the beginning of the word effort. I haven't heard the latter before.

The SW corner was a bit dicey, until I had to change those errors with the correct letters. the rest of the puzzle went together very fast, but the theme escaped me until I had the unifier fill in.

For some reason the deck construction crew is not here this morning. They have just a bit of finishing touches to do, but I wish they would be here every morning to work until it is done. We don't know they aren't coming until it is late in the morning and they are no-shows. Hopefully they'll be here tomorrow.

• I thought nice clean cluing throughout, including:– Limited resort to obscure abbrs., and just the one sports question (a personal dislike). – Things like ADS & PLUG clued differently; addition of the ambiguous “quite” to “competent” for ADEPT.– Use of adjectival phrase (“Unlike Poetry” – and the answer rhymed! – cutesy misdirection); adjective/verb ambiguity at “Mature”.• I enjoyed the internal pun on “Rear admiral"/STERN – I assume that was intended; and the sea-to-air mini-themes, including SANK, SKYE; and the flight pattern: GLIDES and AVIATE (LESLIE might’ve been part of that, too).• Standard fill was not excessive. “Quaint” has been overused though for “inn”.• Enjoyed some uber-Monday fills– INURED, VIABLE, YENTA.

Critique: • Theme was a little lame, but this a Monday, so that's practically de rigeur.• “…hallowed be THY name” might be deemed a little ethno.• I thought PDF was OK, just – albeit not all PDFs are image files [the original ones were textual, and many still are]; and of course not all image files are PDFs.• Minor pique: crossing of LIONEL and LION

Thanks, Nice, for a "nice" critique . . . all spot on. I will share one response, that about LIONEL and LION. I agree with you at a personal level that this is not an attractive placement, and I would avoid it if something better presented itself at the time. But I have learned (I'm fairly new at this) that most editors don't worry about similar words, even closely placed, as long as the words are not related (LION and LEONINE would be a no-go). They are much more concerned about the inherent quality of the words than the fact that they share a few letters.

This was a pleasant start to my day. I found nothing objectionable (teetering for just a mo' over "Quaint" for INN) and much that I enjoyed (especially to be reminded of old flames DARLA and ARETHA). I also got a kick out of PRADO, because of memories of that beautiful museum, so full of beauty and so cool on hot Spanish afternoons.

Thank you for stopping by; in a very short time, Mark has many publications and book of his own creations. I blogged a few Fridays of his and he seems like a very friendly man. See LINK . He has stepped up his production with this 4-4 effort his 4th of the year.

Thanks, Argyle! Enjoyed the train. My older boy was given a LIONEL hand-me-down train from a step cousin. It was always under our tree at Christmas. When I was down-sizing to move, that son came for the train for his son and it had disappeared. Later found out the younger son had glommed onto it for his son. I thought there would be war, but elder son decided it wasn't worth ruining their relationship. I was proud of him.

Houston player: I had ST in place and wanted STud but settled for STRO.

PRADa before PRADO.

OC4beach: Bless your heart, surgery is no fun! Glad you had the energy to give the doctor some flak. Most of them need some deflation to egos. Glad you didn't go home without the repair. Best wishes for your continued recovery.

TTP, re your yesterday comments about the the Villanova - OU game. I did watch it until Nova was 30 points ahead and it was too embarrassing to see OU bumbling around anymore. 44 point win, I think. That win made it easier for a Kansas fan to take their defeat with 4 points. Nova is a defense powerhouse right now and I'm rooting for them to win it all.

Easy, but fun. Thanks Mark. Thanks for walking us through "your" puzzle, Argyle. Santa? Razors? Who else could it be about?

Clever poems, Owen.

I also have a Lionel train left over from years ago. It runs on what was then called Standard gauge track, much wider than you see today. The steam engine is huge ...and heavy by today's standards. Lots of good memories !

Your slick puzzle got my week off to a great start--many thanks, Mark, and thanks too for checking in. I also got today's Sudoku and Kenken (woke up early), so this felt like a triple great start to the week. A big delight, since I'm experiencing a similar weekly schedule to Uncle Fred's these days.

Have a good recovery, oc4beach, what a difficult week you've had!

Snow in April! My goodness, Irish Miss, you and the daffodils deserve much better than that!

Ottawa has a beautiful TULIP festival every spring which dates back to just after WWII. The Netherlands continues to give Ottawa 20,000 tulip bulbs every year in gratitude for Canada having provided asylum for the Dutch royal family during the war and playing a strong role in the Netherlands’ liberation.OttawaTulipFestival

Tulips coming up in the garden are under the snow.We have more snow today than we have had all winter and it is not even April Fools Day!

I enjoyed the puzzle today! Fantastic job Mark! I did put GIFs in but quickly changed it - PDFs came easily. And hands up for PROSe. I enjoyed the different clues you gave for common answers (instead of "terrier" for SKYE, no TSE tse fly either!). And the ones I wouldn't have know were easily perped and I didn't see them until reading the write-up. Average speed for a Monday so I had to think a little but not much. Overall, super fun!

Have to go study for Pharmacology exam on Wednesday...

OC - heal quickly! Keeping you in my thoughts! Those RNs should be smart enough to handle a Monday/Tuesday puzzle easily :)

Baseball opening day games are being postponed due to it being cold??? Too bad for the fans. Won't be a problem for my Dodgers I'm sure!

pje, too funny, too true comment on the weather.Canadian Eh! Beautiful tulips. I hope they survive the cold snap. I am also rooting for the always late blooming cherry blossoms in our nearby park. Many brides choose this park for their wedding pictures. The timing is difficult. I feel so sorry when Mother Nature does not cooperate.What a splendid afternoon I had today in spite of the cold rain!My computer has sounds! I can play your musical clips.The library tech restored my Kindle library app in nothing flat. No more swiping across a printed page to turn it. LOL And now I have the latest library update. My account even gave me back the book I had started reading.Alan's medical checkup today showed he is the healthiest he has been in 6 months. No more complaints from him. He has been working his regular schedule for 3 weeks and was delighted with the size of his pay check on Friday.My first experience with my new pharmacy today was delightful. No snafus, plenty of efficiency, pleasantness, and competence. Goodbye - - -. I have found a new love.

pje @ 3:08 - Thanks for the chuckle; it was just what I needed after struggling with the trash and recyclable bins down my poorly plowed driveway! 19 tonight and a high of 35 tomorrow! Bi-polar, indeed!

Misty, my neighbor's daffodils were in full bloom last week; today, they are covered in snow!

oc4beach, best wishes for a speedy recovery. Good that you were able to get there in time, and unfortunate that they had to replace a lead. Perhaps you could introduce them to Six Sigma ?

H-G, Anon-T, pje, and CED: TTP will take solace in that he wasn't alone in speeding past and/or not reading the clue at 45D. Gee !

Also pje, that is so funny ! She's been driving me nuts of late !

I was going to spray my crab apple Saturday. Then it rained. Then hailed. Then snowed. Then the sun came out. Then the winds kicked up and it started to rain again. Then sleeted. And snowed a little more. So Sunday I went to Lowes for the fungicide and even though the temps climbed to 70, the winds were gusting to easily half of that number. Can't spray in a windstorm.

Unfortunately, Sunday's warm weather brought the buds out, so I had to get it sprayed today. Which meant that after my 8:13 post this morning, I went out into the 36 degree weather and sprayed. Hope the garden hose doesn't freeze tonight.

The weather fooled my star magnolia as well. About 20% of it bloomed, and then that's it.

Crazy weather !

PK, you wanted STud ? :>) I'll pull for Nova. Was really happy for Rollie Massimino when he coached them to victory in '85.

It's not Friday yet, is it? Rough day - a 3.5 hour troubleshooting call (hence time to post earlier :-)) ending in ERASE'n' a month's worth of work and we still don't have a root-cause.Oc4 - You will esp. appreciate this - we had one site have errors w/ the new software that we didn't catch in testing and had to rip out today. Thank goodness they got you fixed before it was a real problem. And I wouldn't worry about being aggressive in that situation!

On the plus side, Pop got out of the hospital today. I'd tell you why he was in but TMI. He's fine now, just a bit week.

YR - Loved more LIONELs!

Pje - Even in H-Town Mother Nature is bipolar. I had to don jeans & a sweater over the weekend.

WEES. Late to the dance because of a busy day made busier with unneeded snow.

Nice to see Lionels in the puzzle - I played with a hand-me-down set with very little track as a kid. Years later, I was invited to join a family from Mass who were traveling to Germany to have Christmas with their military daughter, which meant that we each had to stuff a few pieces of Lionel train track and a car or two into our luggage. The object was to have at least the minimum oval track & train under the tree. Good times!

YR is quite right! Over a lifetime, pilots accumulate lots of little memory aids to help in high-workload situations. The saying "Aviate, Navigate, Communicate!" is a reminder how to prioritize when something stressful happens in flight. A related memory aid is "Never drop the airplane to fly the microphone!"

Did anyone watch the Big Game tonight from H-Town? My dog was out of the hunt (OUch!) but it was an exciting game none-the-less. Both teams played well. Congrats to Villanova and their fans. Cheers, -T